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New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the
United States. The state is named after the island of Jersey in the English
Channel. It is bordered on the north by New York, on the east by the Atlantic
Ocean, on the southwest by Delaware, and on the west by Pennsylvania. Parts of
New Jersey lie within the metropolitan areas of New York and Philadelphia.

Inhabited by Native Americans for more than 2,800 years, the first European
settlements in the area were established by the Swedes and Dutch in the early
1600s. The British later seized control of the region, which was granted to Sir
George Carteret and John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton as the colony
of New Jersey. New Jersey was an important site during the American
Revolutionary War; several decisive battles were fought there. The winter
quarters of the revolutionary army were established twice by George Washington
in Morristown, which was called the military capital of the revolution. The New
Jersey Journal, a newspaper published by Shepard Kollock, who established his
press in Chatham during 1779, became a catalyst in the revolution. News of
events came directly to Kollock from Washington's headquarters in nearby
Morristown, which he published to boost the morale of the troops and their
families, and he conducted lively debates about the efforts for independence
with those who opposed and supported the cause he championed. Later,
working-class cities such as Paterson and Trenton helped to drive the Industrial
Revolution in the nineteenth century. New Jersey's position at the center of the
BosWash megalopolis, between Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and
Washington, D.C., fueled its rapid growth through the suburban boom of the 1950s
and beyond.